Thursday, August 1, 2013

Are Gold Stocks on the Cusp of an Upswing?

Chicago, Aug.1, best stock .- The Gold Report: Ron, the Federal Reserve has decided to continue quantitative easing (QE) for the foreseeable future. Gold has risen steadily since that news. Is that what you predicted the Fed would do?

Ron Struthers: It is not that hard to predict the Fed's behavior when you understand what it's trying to do and how it's trying to do it. I do not take what they say literally, except within the context of its goals. The Fed is trying to instill confidence in the economy because of massive U.S. debt and its future debt appetite. The economy needs to improve for there to be higher tax receipts. We need foreign investment to finance the debt. If the Fed can convince Americans and those abroad that its bonds are the safest/most attractive, its stock market will have the best returns and that debt machine keeps running.

But the truth is that the economy is very weak. Employment is weak. Foreign investment has been fleeing. The Fed has to purchase $85 billion of debt a month because nobody else will. The Fed can't do this forever, and it knows it. It has to talk as if the economy is improving so the Fed debt purchases can end in the near future.

If you dig into what's really going on in the economy and markets, you'll find the underlying weakness that guarantees that QE will be here for a long time, as least as long as the markets themselves will allow it or are tricked into allowing it.

TGR: Why are Americans so complicit in this?

RS: Too many take for gospel what they read and see in the mainstream media. There's a pretty good media propaganda machine out there for the government.

TGR: Do you think the Fed should exist?

RS: I've never gotten into whether it should exist or not. Let's just deal with what we have. I do think that its hand has gotten way too heavy in the markets.

TGR: Now that QE is going to continue for a while, what is the trade in gold and where are the catalysts for an even higher gold price?

RS: We've been waiting for a bottom. We've seen that now, and it's time to buy. There are still a lot of the same catalysts, such as many central banks are switching out of the dollar, yen, euros and diversifying to gold. Continued QE just means a continuation of that diversification.

Asia still has record demand for physical gold. Since the Bank of Japan announced the most aggressive QE program thus far, Japanese funds and the pension funds have started to buy gold-related investments; this is a first and has only just begun.

Since the price drop, we've seen a lot of mine closures and curtailment, which will only result in less supply in an already tight physical market.

However, the main catalyst is the reason gold was driven down in the first place. It has run its course and that was fulfilling the goal of the bullion banks.

TGR: Which is?

RS: The bullion banks run a fractional reserve gold system just like the bank system, meaning they only have one ounce of gold for every 50, maybe even 100 or more, sold. We don't know the exact numbers, but it's something along that line. That system came under stress with the lack of confidence and was driven, in part, by major countries like Germany repatriating gold. The fact that it is going to take seven years for Germany to get its gold tells you something about this fractional reserve system.

The bullion banks were, and are still, seeing a run on their physical reserves as inventories are falling, and so are the COMEX inventories. But at the same time, the bullion banks had this huge short position in gold and silver. We've seen a behind-the-scenes rescue of these bullion banks, at least for now.

TGR: In a recent edition of Struthers'Resource Stock Report, you said that many of these bullion banks are actually long gold now.

RS: We don't know exactly what any one bullion bank does, but we get some very good clues from the weekly COMEX Position of Traders report. The section of the report called "The Commercial," which includes the bullion banks, shows the reported short and long positions. We have seen a large net short position there for many years. But with this big drop in gold prices, that short position has been taken down to near nothing. At the same time, we've seen the category where we find the speculators and hedge funds at record net short levels. The short position has been moved from the strong hands to weaker ones. I see this as another bullish signal.

TGR: You also see some weakness in the recent jobs data. Tell us more about that.

RS: We hear the U.S. headline job number, talk about all these jobs we're creating and how good it is. The devil is in the details, they say. The last report actually saw 220,000 full-time jobs disappear. All the gains were part-time jobs. Right now, the second largest employer in the U.S. is a temp agency, and some 10% of the workforce is temporary because companies can't afford full-time workers or have little confidence for that commitment. That's a big sign we never have seen a real recovery.

Only 47% of Americans have full-time jobs. Some people have two part-time jobs now. The same person working in two places counts as two jobs, but it's just one person. The previous month's report sounded good, too. It reported more new jobs, but the hours of work dropped. I just see these employment numbers as part of the virtual economy, not the real one.

TGR: Do you believe that gold has already bounced off of its 2013 bottom?

RS: I think so. The $1,1001,200/ounce ($1,1001,200/oz) barrier was a good support level for gold, and we bounced out of that. I think we've seen the bottom. I thought we could possibly see a retest of that support, but because gold has done so strongly already, I think a retest of that becomes less likely now.

TGR: A group of Canadian financial companies led by the Royal Bank are attempting to launch a stock exchange to rival the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The carrot at the end of the stick seems to be the elimination of predatory trading by computer-based programs. Does this idea have any traction?

RS: It has traction given that a large bank is behind it. I talk to investors and traders almost daily, and they've been fed up with computer trading for quite a while. Very simply, it's just totally unfair. Orders are not real and come and go quicker than humans can act.

"If you dig into what's really going on in the economy and markets, you'll find the underlying weakness that guarantees QE will be here for a long time."

Maybe you see a bid for 1,000 shares on some stock. You try to sell, but the computer sees your order coming, maybe fills 200 and then reduces the bid and you remain unfilled. You can take lower and lower prices if you want.

The same with buying. More shares can show up less than a second after you buy, so you don't know how many shares there are on offer, who is selling, how much or whether something is wrong because there's so much selling. Sometimes you don't even see your trades. You'll see, say, a bid at $0.35 and an offer at $0.40 on some particular stock. Maybe you put an order in to buy at $0.40, and you see no trade go through, but your brokerage account shows filled. The next day you find it settled at $0.38 because there was an offer there from a different trading platform.

For the most part, these different platforms are computer-driven participants. It has induced a huge lack of confidence and unfairness in the markets. It created two playing fields: the rich, big players and the small investor on the bad end of the stick.

What is also unfair is that these computer trades are given a rebate or less fees on their commission, so they're even given an advantage on commissions over regular investors. They say it's in the name of supply and liquidity, but it's just another unfair practice.

TGR: Wouldn't the Toronto Exchange argue that it's not a profitable enterprise without computer trading?

RS: I'm sure it is going to put up any kind of blocks that it can.

TGR: This sounds like an almost ideal bourse for junior mining stocks. What incentive would the new exchange offer for companies to come over?

RS: I don't think they will have to actually come over; TSX-listed companies could trade there. It would operate like another trading platform. The TSX has already lost about 40% of the volume to other trading platforms out there now like Alpha. This bourse is still in a discovery period right now. It's still exploring all the options for how to work this. It has an outline, but the goal is to go with a formal application around year-end. If it makes an official application by year-end, we could see this in 2014.

One thing I found quite interesting is it would take private company shares. A brokerage could take in the shares and create a market, creating some liquidity for private companies.

TGR: Why would private companies list? They have no desire to make their financials public.

RS: They actually don't list but it creates some liquidity for their current shareholders. At the same time, they don't have the regulatory burden as a public startup company. They can put more money into their companies and bring them to a stronger level before going public.

TGR: Without the transparency, investors could lose a lot of money.

RS: On the private sector side, it would only be qualified/accredited investors under the current TSX guidelines that could own and trade in these shares.

TGR: Is there any word from the federal government on whether it would back a new exchange such as this?

RS: I haven't heard much yet. This just came out at the end of June. We're going to hear lots about it between now and year-end, but it's just in its infancy now.

TGR: You follow a number of small-cap, mid-cap and large-cap gold and silver equities. Please outline your thesis for the small-cap silver and gold equities.

"I keep a long-term outlook. We have these ups and downs. This has been the worst, but this could be the fourth good correction."

RS: We use stop losses, and we got stopped out of almost all of our gold stock positions quite a while ago. I've never seen anything like it, but the market is what it is. Seeing a bottom, we first started going in and buying back the larger and midtier producers and some of the junior producers. Then later on, we'll start adding more of the exploration plays as long as the market keeps advancing.

TGR: What are some junior companies you're writing about in Resource Stock Report?

RS:Claude Resources Inc. (CRJ:TSX; CGR:NYSE.MKT) is one I recently bought back. I couldn't believe how far that got beat downto about $0.20/share. The main reason was that its costs are high at around $1,245/oz. However, it just completed a shaft extension at its Seabee mine that will reduce costs. It already has higher costs at the first of year because it has to restock its mine utilizing winter ice roads. The restocking program went well this year, with lower costs than last year and lower costs in many consumables. Given that and the recovery in the gold price, we could see quite a turnaround in that stock.

TGR: Claude posted a loss of $0.01/share in Q1/13. Is it on track to turn that around?

RS: The extra leverage you get is another advantage when you buy companies with costs very close to the current price. A $100/oz increase in gold would turn it from losses to profits. Just that $100/oz can make quite a difference, and you can see that leverage reflected in the improvement in the stock price.

TGR: Where is the growth going to come from, Ron?

RS: It is going to get some growth from the Seabee mine, but the big growth is going to come from its Madsen project in Red Lake, Ontario. It actually has more gold resources there than its mine. It has been advancing that project. Bringing that into production down the road is going to provide quite substantial growth.

TGR: What is another junior story?

RS:Richmont Mines Inc. (RIC:TSX; RIC:NYSE.MKT) has 2 million ounces (2 Moz) in reserves and resources and is producing about 65,000 ounces (65 Koz) a year. Its cash cost was high last quarter, at $1,300/oz, but that should improve. It had lower grades mined the previous quarter, which is going to improve in H2/13. It is also putting a new W Zone at the mine into production. It did a successful bulk sample test, at grades of 5.3 grams per tonne with 97.4% recovery.

The company has always been managed very prudently. It only has 40 million (40M) shares out, a strong cash position of $43M and less than $1M in debt. It has a $50M loan facility available as well, so it is in a strong position. The market is valuing its mines and ounces at just $20M right now. If you look at 2 Moz reserves and resources, they're valued at $10/ozand that's at a producing mine. I just find that ridiculously cheap, but the market is ridiculous now.

TGR: Do you think Richmont would use its cash position to take advantage of some other players that are not as cash rich?

RS: I don't think so. The management's track record is to more or less invest internally. It is more apt to improve the current mines and to acquire and advance some other properties. It could take advantage of acquiring properties off some of these other companies instead of taking out a whole company.

TGR: You mentioned its cost of production was a touch high. What is it doing to remedy that?

RS: The high costs are a short-term issue. It will get by this as the year progresses and fall more in line with normal grades that are a bit higher. This additional zone is a higher grade zone that will help with that. It's also paring costs wherever it can, cutting corners here and there like all the gold miners now.

RS: Newmont gives good leverage as a dividend play because its dividend is based on the gold price. The dividend was $1.40/year, which is yielding about 5%, but that's probably going to drop to about $0.80/year because of the current gold price.

The dividend goes by the average of the previous quarter. The dividend increase is for every $100/oz increase in gold, $0.20/year. Once gold hits $1,700/oz, then it increases $0.30/year for every $100/oz increase. At $2,000/oz gold, it jumps $0.40/year for every $100/oz increase. That's some pretty good leverage there. If we get to $2,000/oz gold, the dividend would be $2.70 each year per share.

For now, I'm just betting gold recovers and Newmont is at least paying $1.40/share. That would give us a 5% yield at the current stock price.

TGR: Is yield the only reason why Newmont hasn't been beaten up like Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX:TSX; ABX:NYSE)?

RS: They've all been beaten up pretty good. Maybe Newmont was spared a little because of the yield. Most of the majors are paying some kind of dividend now, but Newmont is among the highest.

TGR: Are there some distressed names that offer compelling value in this market?

RS: They're all distressed at this point!

I've been looking at another good company that is quite interesting in South Africa. I haven't picked much up there for a long time. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI:NYSE) spun a company out of its holdings this year to create Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SBGL:NYSE). It came out trading around $7/share in February, just in time for the market to get hammered, and it dropped all the way down to a few bucks.

It is actually going to be the third largest producer in Africa behind Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU:NYSE; ANG:JSE; AGG:ASX; AGD:LSE). The trailing price-earnings ratio is just 2x earnings. It had a very positive Q1/13 with $170M profit and $66M free cash flow. Falling gold prices would naturally have an effect, but its impact has been overdone on the share price. Sibanye has two producing mines and offers good value down at these prices.

TGR: Why did Gold Fields decide to spin it out?

RS: It wanted to split its mining into two types. It spun out narrow-grade, underground mining that's labor intensive. Its other projects are more open-pittable, bulk scenarios with more machinery-type mines. It felt it was trying to manage two different types of mines. Now there is better concentration with a split along synergies.

TGR: Could you give us another small-cap name?

RS:Argonaut Gold Inc. (AR:TSX) has not been beaten down nearly as much because its costs are quite low at around $600/oz. The company has two producing mines and produced 93 Koz last year. It is projected to increase to 120140 Koz this year. Argonaut has two advanced projects under economic assessment, two more mines that could come onstream down the road. It should be able to fund all this internally because it is sitting on $168M in cash and has no debt. Argonaut could be a stock that could continue to outperform in the market going ahead. It's quite a good growth story.

TGR: How are you staying positive throughout what's happening in the junior mining sector?

RS: I keep a long-term outlook. We have these ups and downs. This has been the worst, but this could be the fourth good correction. Each time, these corrections get a little bigger and a little longer, but they're from bigger and higher prices. The next move will be a bigger and longer upmove. That's the carrot for belief in what's yet to come. Being that these stocks are so depressed, it's the best buying opportunity that I've ever seen, even better than in 2000 at the bottom.

TGR: Are you buying?

RS: Yes. I like the long-term call options on some of these majors, too. Because the market is so beaten up, the call premiums have gone to nothing. You can buy these call options that are out a year-and-a-half for $1 or $2 and control a $510 stock. There's a lot of leverage there.

Ron Struthers founded Struthers' Resource Stock Report almost 20 years ago. The report covers senior and junior companies with ample trading liquidity. Since 2000, $1,000 invested in Struthers' Model Portfolio ended 2012 at $9,251. Struthers' Newsletter Stocks went from $1,000 to $20,934. Struthers' Millennium Index, which started in 2003, began at $1,000 and was worth $4,133 at the end of 2012.

Want to read more Gold Report interviews like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviewspage.

DISCLOSURE:

1) Brian Sylvester conducted this interview for The Gold Report and provides services to The Gold Report as an independent contractor. He or his family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in the interview are sponsors of The Gold Report: Richmont Mines Inc. and Argonaut Gold Inc. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services or as sponsorship payment.

3) Ron Struthers: I or my family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: Claude Resources Inc. and Richmont Mines Inc. I personally am or my family is paid by the following companies mentioned in this interview: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this interview: None. I was not paid by Streetwise Reports for participating in this interview. Comments and opinions expressed are my own comments and opinions. I had the opportunity to review the interview for accuracy as of the date of the interview and am responsible for the content of the interview.

4) Interviews are edited for clarity. Streetwise Reports does not make editorial comments or change experts' statements without their consent.

5) The interview does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer.

6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned and may make purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise.

Bogle wrote a letter to the editor. Here's an excerpt: Citing Benjamin Graham as the first "hedged fund" operator is an especially unfortunate example. "The trick," Mr. Rice writes, was Graham's "clever way to make money . . . whether it [the market] continued to rise, or started to fall." ...

One of my pet peeves is the way that insiders -- whether corporate CEOs, hedge fund managers, or elected politicos -- capture compensation (or credit) for normal cyclical gains they had little or nothing to do with.

This is the approach favored by the Crony Capitalists — those people pretending to be free market participants, and who merely pretend to be creating value. They are taking credit for structural successes that would have occurred with or without them. What they are actually doing is capturing value, not creating it — and then transferring it from its true owners (shareholders/investors) to themselves.

This is wrong; it is legalized theft.

If you want to see a good example of how CEOs transfer shareholder wealth to themselves, a good place to start is Roger Lowenstein’s 2004 book, Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing. The section on CEO compensation is astounding; these guys were essentially getting wildly overcompensated for being CEOs during a bull market. The prime example was the CEO of Heinz, who gave himself (with the tacit approval of his Board ofCrony Directors) a $90 million bonus. And this was back in the early 1990s, when $90 million was real money.

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs Asset Management announced that it would launch a new mutual fund that — apparently — will bring the joy of hedge fund investing to the masses. For as little as $1,000, the Multi-Manager Alternatives Fund (GMAMX) allows mom-and-pop investors to put their life savings into some of Wall Street’s riskiest and most expensive products. This “fund of funds” will, according to its prospectus, let investors gain exposure to the trading strategies of hedge funds...

Big public pension funds reaped strong returns from their hedge fund portfolios in 2012, with most of them handily surpassing their own benchmarks and well-used industry indexes. The hedge fund portfolios, for the most part, achieved close to what chief investment officers wanted, despite a 1,500-basis-point difference between the best and worst performers, according toPensions & Investments' analysis of the returns of 19 hedge fund portfolios from 17 U.S. public retirement plans with aggregate hedge fund assets of $60.7 billion.

Something must be in the water over at 399 Park Avenue, where Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point is headquartered. His Third Point Ultra fund has already gained 12.42 percent this year through the 13th of March, according to data from HSBC’s Private Bank.

The portfolio added 3.3 percent alone between March 1 and March 13. By comparison, hedge funds have returned about 4 percent year-to-date, according to HSBC.

The roughly $1.7 billion Ultra portfolio is a levered version of the firm’s flagship Offshore fund, which manages about $5.7 billion and has gained 8.5 percent over the same period. ...

After taking a cursory look at the recent 13-Fs filed by hedge funds, it became apparent that hedge funds were scaling back their exposures to gold. George Soros was among the big names that unloaded his position. According to Goldman Sachs' new Hedge Fund Trend Monitor report, hedge funds in aggregate scaled back big time.

Despite low turnover, hedge funds notably reduced holdings of underperforming long-time favorites Apple and gold while raising allocations to rallying Financials. For the first time in three years AAPL was not the top stock in our VIP list, instead ranking as the third most frequent top-10 holding... Continue to read.

10 Publicly Traded Hedge Funds That Pay a DividendInvesting in publicly traded hedge funds is a great way for an investor to see returns through capital appreciation and dividend payments in the financial sector. When it comes to investing, many think of the process as a choice between growth and value stocks; you’re either taking on risk in search of capital appreciation, or you’re seeking out stable sources of current income through dividend payments. Luckily, Wall Street has many investment options and investors don’t have to make a clear-cut choice between capital gains and dividends. There are a lot of misunderstandings about dividend stocks out there; make sure you’re investing for the right reasons, check out 5 Common Misconceptions About Dividend Investing.... Continue.

Hedge Funds Love These 3 Outperforming Semiconductor Stocks ...Do you like to follow the buying trends of smart money investors? We ran a screen to find semiconductor stocks currently in favor by hedge fund managers. We began by screening the semiconductor industry for stocks that are rallying above their 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages, indicating that these stocks have strong upward momentum.We then screened for those with bullish sentiment from institutional investors, with significant net institutional purchases over the last quarter representing at least 5% of share float.... Continue.

10 REITs Absolutely Adored By Hedge FundsAfter identifying the most popular stocks among hedge funds (see our full Top 10 here) according to their third-quarter 13F filings, we have decided to break down the top 10 REIT stocks that hedge funds love. The REIT industry, notably specialized REITs in hospitality and healthcare, should see positive growth from a rise in job growth and expansion due to freeing up of the credit markets. Our list includes 400 hedge funds and prominent investors that are required by the SEC to disclose their public equity holdings quarterly. In descending order, we have outlined the most-loved REIT stocks based on the aggregate number of funds owning each....Continue.

Apple Stock Hit by Panic Selling: 'Someone Yelled Fire'(Yahoo) Forget the "fiscal cliff." The real panic on Wall Street is over Apple's stock. Nearly every mutual and hedge fund has piled into Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during its spectacular rise over the past few years. Now, these same funds are scrambling for the exits as the stock goes through an equally spectacular decline. Apple plunged to a six-month low Thursday as funds rushed to take profits on the stock before it's too late. Shares are now off 25 percent since late September-shortly after the iPhone 5 launch and a month before the iPad Mini introduction. The stock, once up 74 percent on the year, is still up 30 percent for 2012. That's why Wall Street is getting out while it can....

Billionaire George Soros’s Latest Stock Picks (InsiderMonkey) George Soros is best known for the fortune he made shorting the British pound in 1992, but he currently invests a considerable amount of money in equities and so is required to report many of his long positions in 13F filings. We’ve gone through the 13F for the third quarter of the year and compared Soros’s holdings at the end of September to three months earlier. Read on for our impression of his moves and compare them to what he's bought and sold before. AIG. American International Group, Inc. (NYSE::AIG) became Soros’s largest 13F equity holding during the third quarter with a position of over 15 million shares being reported in the filing. A number of value investors have been getting into the insurer over the course of the year, and at a P/B ratio of 0.5 it certainly looks cheap compared to the book value of its equity. We also like its earnings multiples- it trades at 9 times forward earnings estimates- and revenue was up strongly in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2011. Fellow billionaire Dan Loeb had initiated a position during the second quarter of 2012 and we think that it still looks like a good buy for investors....

Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers still facing issues as tough year nears an end (BizJournals) In late 2011, Jim Rogers seemed almost golden. He was about to close his last big merger deal. He was poised to take a corporate chairmanship tailored to his penchants for energy policy and reshaping the utility-business model. He was ready to bask in the spotlight of a national convention he’d helped bring to Charlotte. But by late 2012, it’s evident things have not gone so well. “It has been a year of challenges,” the Duke Energy Corp. chief executive concedes. “Nothing in life is perfect.” Dan Fogel, associate director of the Wake Forest University Business School’s Center for Energy, ...

Argo unveils emerging markets hedge fund (InvestmentWeek) Argo Group has launched an emerging markets hedge fund investing in bonds and currencies from a universe of over 40 emerging market countries. The Argo Local Markets fund aims to hold between 20 and 30 positions and has been launched with an initial $7m of seed capital. It will offer investors weekly liquidity and has a mandate to take on moderate leverage. Argo chief executive Kyriakos Rialas said: "The case for investing in emerging markets is compelling....

Argentina's President Is Making Great Political Theater Out Of Paul Singer Seizing The Country's Naval Ship(BusinessInsider) Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is turning her feud with hedge fund manager Paul Singer into a political rallying cry in Argentina. The President has refused to pay Singer's firm Elliott Management the $1.3 billion it owes the fund after it defaulted in 2010. de Kirchner says it's because Singer was given multiple chances (in 2005 and 2010) to restructure, like other hedge funds did, and take a haircut to recoup at least a portion of their losses. Singer, needless to say, did not. Instead, he decided to capture one of Argentina's naval vessels as collateral, and got Ghana to give him an order to detain the ARA Libertad last month....

Tom Steyer New InvestmentsFARALLON CAPITAL Hedge fund billionaire into politics (DailyDemocrat) Hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer staked millions of his own money to take on big oil and then to close a corporate-tax loophole costing California $1billion a year -- and won both times. Ever heard of him? Don't worry, you will. With his latest behind-the-scenes win at the polls as the man who stared down big business by standing up for Proposition 39, this Stanford MBA and top Obama fundraiser has become an out-of-nowhere big-time political player in California. So what does Tom Steyer want now? "I am an enormous lover of California and to the extent that I see something wrong, I will be involved in trying to fix it," Steyer, 55, said Monday. "What form that takes, I don't have a fixed idea."...

Hedge Fund News: David Tepper Value ...Billionaire David Tepper's Latest Stock Picks (InsiderMonkey) Appaloosa Management is a value hedge fund managed by billionaire David Tepper (whose name might sound familiar to any recent attendees of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business). The fund has an estimated $16 billion under management. We have gone through Appaloosa’s 13F for the third quarter of 2012 and picked out... Continue to read.

This Hedge Fund Returned Nearly 25% Last Quarter Artis Capital Management was a top performing hedge fund during the third quarter. Coming in with the fourth best Q3 performance, the fund’s picks had a weighted average return of 25.5% during the first half of the year, and returned 24.6% for the third quarter, boosting the fund’s year to date performance to 56.4%. Artis Capital was founded in 2001 and is a San Francisco-based hedge fund with a focus on public technology companies.... Read more.

More ETFs Play Hedge Fund CopycatWhat if you could emulate the actions of the most successful hedge fund managers for a fraction of what they cost? Two ETFs that debuted this summer are trying to do that by using public filings to replicate their portfolios. And a third, which launched early this month, promises to add another hedge fund dimension to ETF copycats by adopting what its sponsor calls the only true market-neutral strategy in the lot. Researchers have been trying to emulate hedge fund strategies since the 1990s ... Read more

Blog Archive

BMW and Pininfarina are two of the most tradition-swathed names in the motoring world. Each is a byword for cutting-edge technology, style, dynamics and aesthetics. With the BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé, the two

time-honoured companies are unveiling the outcome of their first collaboration at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2013. The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé is a one-off and represents the exclusive interpretation of a luxurious BMW Coupé as seen through the eyes of Pininfarina.

The precious metals have been weak again in May with gold falling 4.4% despite this weeks’ recovery. Silver is down 7% and platinum by 2.6%. Palladium has recovered from recent weakness and those who accumulated on weakness are set for the best month since November after it surged 6.6% in May.

Weakness in gold and silver is leading to robust demand internationally as store of value buyers accumulate gold and silver on this dip. This is particularly the case in Asia where premiums remain robust and supply demand imbalances remain. ...

Follow by Email

The future of work is the work itself, not where and when the work takes place. Workplace flexibility programs are already catching on and will soon become standardized as more millennials enter the workplace. All workers, not just millennials,want freedom and flexibility and some are even quitting their jobs to becoming freelancers in order to gain that freedom. oDesk.com has 3.3 million registered freelancers, and Intuit predicts that by 2020, 40% of Americans will be freelancers. When it comes to working from home, 13.4 million people (9.4% of all American workers) work from home at least one day per week compared to just 9.2 million in 1997 according to one Census Bureau.

Russia is funding research into powering its airplanes with solar energy. The airline industry is being hurt by high fuel prices, and solar-powered planes would not only be cheaper but also would remove a major source of carbon pollution that contributes to global warming.

Investors have picked over the ETF universe in search of any kind of yield in an extremely low-rate market for bonds. As a result, ETFs tracking many traditional high-yield sectors have been bid up to expensive levels, but there are still places investors can go for income without paying nosebleed valuations. “Unfortunately, valuations [for dividends, high-yield junk bonds, MLPs, and REITs] are approaching sky high levels in many instances as more investors fall in love with these products ... Continue.

U.S. manufacturing growth picked up in March as new orders increased and hiring quickened, closing out the best quarter for the sector in two years, a survey showed on Monday. Financial data firm Markit said its U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to 54.6 last month from 54.3 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Output increased, though the rate of growth slipped to 56.6 from 57.3 in February...